The salve story

 Have you ever had a cut that just wouldn’t heal? A scar was red and puffy forever? How about dry skin or chapped lips? If you have not tried an herbal salve to treat these wounds you are missing out on a great remedy. A salve is an ointment that is made from butters, oils and waxes that can be applied topically to any area of the body. Adding medicinal botanicals adds an increased benefit that can speed up healing times exponentially. Calendula flowers are anti-inflammatory and wound healing while Plantain soothes skin and speeds up healing time. While using Yarrow flowers and Chickweed assist in calming burns and rashes.

 Our DHB salve combines ten different therapeutic botanicals with organic olive oil and beeswax that creates a magical recipe for healing the skin. This formula has evolved over the past 30 years long before I was in medical school.  I found a basic formula for a salve out of a book that was written in the early 1900’s and after researching many herbs I started in making the salve which only took a few hours from start to finish.

 The thing about a salve is that it is not needed until, well, it IS needed. A few weeks after finishing and bottling the salve I was making homemade strawberry preserves (see recipe) and after about an hour I left the kitchen for a few minutes and came back to the pot boiling over and dripping all over the stove. In the midst of trying to clean up I inadvertently pulled off one of the electric burners with my hand that did not have an oven mitt on. Needless to say, the burns were quite bad on three of my fingers.

 Not having a tremendous amount of first aid available other than my newly made salve I applied a generous amount every few minutes for the next hour. The pain slowly disappeared, and I could see the redness fading. After an hour I wiped off the salve and, to my surprise, all the swelling, redness and markings on my fingers were gone. There was no pain or any indication that there were ever burns.

Over the years I have made different variations of the salve for specific indications such as psoriasis or wounds. The recipe that became DHB salve is very close to the original formula that was made so many years ago and had such outstanding results. Add some to your first aid kit today so that when you need it, you have it too.